Moby Sings "The Perfect Life" on Conan the Day Innocents Drops

Moby's always been a step ahead of the game. Long given credit as a forefather of all this electronic music the kids listen to these days, he also knew that selling out was no big deal before many others. He licensed all 12 songs from his biggest album 1999's Play to be used in commercials, movies, and television. Now he knows where his current audience is.

His new album, Innocents, was properly released yesterday, but NPR has been streaming it for free for over a week. It's mostly pleasant ambient music that could nicely fill a segment break after All Things Considered ends and right before Fresh Air begins. Troubles arise when there is singing. The lyrics sung by his guests including Cold Specks, Damien Jurado, and Mark Lanegan are often inane.

But Moby's target audience probably won't be paying attention to the words. They'll be happy to enjoy the mellow tracks after an exhausting day at their respective nonprofits, just wanting to relax on their way home, getting take-out from the deli at Whole Foods. Those Moby fans maybe stayed up late to catch Moby last night on Conan. He performed one of the better songs from the new album, "The Perfect Life." The song features the Flaming Lips' Wayne Coyne, who was absent from the Conan appearance. The video features them walking around Los Angeles dressed like mariachis. Somehow, it feels like Coyne talked Moby into that idea. Moby looks very uncomfortable impersonating a Mexican.

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David Rolland is a freelance music writer for New Times Broward-Palm Beach and Miami New Times. His mornings are spent educating his toddler daughter on becoming a music snob. His spare time is spent dabbling in writing fiction and screenplays whose subjects are mostly music snobs.